In
the second commercial space disaster this week, Virgin Galactic's
tourism rocketship crashed in the Mojave Desert after suffering a major
malfunction during a test flight, killing one pilot and injuring the
other.A witness said the SpaceShipTwo exploded shortly after its engine fired when it was dropped from the WhiteKnight aircraft that carried it aloft, the Associated Press reported.
Virgin Galactic, owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, said the craft "suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle."
The spacecraft crashed near Cantil, in Kern County.
The California Highway Patrol confirmed that one of the two pilots had died and that the other suffered major injuries. Their identities were not immediately released.
Branson has been developing the suborbital SpaceShipTwo at Mojave Air and Space Port, northeast of Los Angeles.
From USATODAY.COM
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